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Spain Hemp Museum Unveils New Japanese-Themed Exhibit

It will be open from its May 12th opening through February 2023. The 10th anniversary celebration marks the display’s permanent presence. People who reside in Spain’s neighboring areas or plan to visit Spain can spend a few minutes to see this collection.

One of the exhibit’s displays tells how ninjas in training would plant a batch of hemp and strive to jump over it every day to improve their jumping skills. The end of the growing season would see the ninjas be able leap over their hemp plants. These can grow to up to 3 or 4 meters, approximately between 9-13 feet in American customary units.

“This children’s story is a testament to a time when cannabis was ‘big in Japan’. Each rural family would plant 4 to 5 furrows worth of hemp seeds as spring approached. The cultivated hemp was the family’s main source of fibre, used to weave cloth,” the museum writes on its website. “It was also an important source of income, as city merchants would buy the finer hemp fibres. This silk-like hemp was used to create the most precious clothing, from summer kimonos to samurai attire and the garments of Shinto priests. Every aspect of work involving hemp, from planting to weaving, was women’s labour. This continued throughout the Meiji era, when Japan quickly became an industrialized empire.”

It features original hemp-related haiku poems from 120 years ago.

Gentle rain is possible
City has sunset scent
Hemp reaping
-Haiku master Masaoka Shiki, 1895.

Display cases also house important artifacts and samples of ancient Japanese hemp clothes. The unique display allows visitors to see the impact of hemp on 18th-century Japan’s history.

Today, Japan’s laws regarding cannabis are much stricter. The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare met recently to talk about lifting the ban on medicinal cannabis. However, they are far from legalizing it. This isn’t the first time government officials have begun to see the benefits of medical cannabis. Back in 2015, Japan’s “First Lady,” Akie Abe, expressed her desire to see the country’s hemp industry return to its former glory.

Japan’s hemp prohibition mirrors that of the United States, which was likely influenced by American occupation in the 1940s. Kyodo News reports that 5,482 people violated the country’s cannabis law in 2021, (4,537 for possession, 273 for illegal sales, and 230 for illegal cultivation).

Japan’s youth cannabis use is a serious concern. Capcom, a popular videogame company, has allowed Japanese police to use characters of its games. The Great Ace Attorney ChroniclesIn order to influence consumption by minors.

Cannabis advocates aren’t going away. There’s one hemp museum in Nasu, Tochigi Prefecture owned by Junichi Takayasu, a local expert on cannabis and its role in Japan’s history.

“Most Japanese people see cannabis as a subculture of Japan but they’re wrong,” Takayasu told The Japan TimesIn an exclusive interview from 2012. “Cannabis has been at the very heart of Japanese culture for thousands of years.”

Takayasu, a Japanese hemp advocate, expressed hope that Japan will soon have a bright future ten years back. “Japanese people have a negative view of cannabis but I want them to understand the truth and I want to protect its history,” he said. “The more we learn about the past, the more hints we might be able to get about how to live better in the future.”

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